LESSER HORSE-SHOE BAT. 97 



such, quoting the two as the V. Ferrum-equinum major 

 and minor of Schreiber ; and although Daubenton was 

 well aware of the distinctions between them, there is 

 nothing in his descriptions which can lead us to suppose 

 that he had formed any more distinct opinion. Montagu 

 appears not only to have been the first who discovered 

 the Smaller Horse-shoe Bat to be an inhabitant of this 

 country, but to have first ascertained that the characters 

 in which they differ from each other are not those of 

 mere varieties, but essentially specific; and he named 

 the smaller one Vespertilio minutus a name, however, 

 which, for obvious reasons, could not be retained. Bech- 

 stein assigned to it a specific appellation, which, though 

 not the best that might have been chosen, as being the 

 mere translation into Greek of that of the former spe- 

 cies, is now established, and has received the sanction of 

 Leach and of all subsequent writers. Geoffrey's names 

 of unihastatus and bihastatus are founded upon error, and, 

 as well as that of hippocrepis, given to it by Herman, 

 were also applied later than those which are here 

 employed. 



This species is found with the former, being similarly 

 fond of the darkest and most concealed places of retire- 

 ment. It was first taken by Montagu in Wiltshire, in 

 a hollow over a baker's oven, having entered the place 

 through a small fissure; and afterwards in a dark old 

 shed surrounded by high trees, at Lackham, in the same 

 county. He also obtained it with the former species in 

 Kent's Hole, an extensive limestone cavern near Tor- 

 quay in Devonshire, where it was observed in considera- 

 ble numbers clinging to the vaulted roof of the interior 

 apartments. Dr. Leach states that " it is a very cautious 

 animal ; very easily tamed, but fond of concealing it- 

 self. It frequents the higher parts of the caverns in 



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